Coppa Italia: Bologna dismantle Empoli in semifinals first leg

Bologna are on the verge of their first Coppa Italia Final in 51 years, with a dominating first-leg win against  Empoli.

The visitors won the first leg with Riccardo Orsolini and a Thijs Dallinga brace. This could make the second leg a formality.

Before reaching the last four, the Tuscans recorded only four draws in their last 15 Serie A rounds. This was a very different story in the Coppa Italia, beating Torino before eliminating both Fiorentina and Juventus on penalties. 

Bologna made their intention known as Riccardo Orsolini’s angled drive flashed wide after 85 seconds. 

Empoli eventually conceded in the 23rd minute when Jens Odgaard’s cross from the left saw two Empoli defenders both gravitate towards Thijs Dallinga, forgetting Orsolini was ready behind them to fire in on the half-volley. 

They doubled their lead moments after as Dan Ndoye’s inspired slide-rule pass split the defense, allowing Dallinga to take a touch and prod off the outside of the right boot into the far bottom corner from 10 yards.

Lukasz Skorupski was called to action when he made a superb fingertip save from Jacopo Fazzini’s flicked-on ball for a ferocious Ola Solbakken angled drive.

Empoli had a promising chance to reduce the deficit, but there was a misplaced Junior Sambia pass for Emanuel Gyasi.

Bologna moments later added a third instead as Dallinga slid in to meet the Ndoye roll across from the left from six yards.

Gyasi had another golden opportunity but drilled his shot across the face of goal under pressure from Davide Calabria, who then got a knock to the knee in the process and limped off.

Jacopo Seghetti made sure the scoreline stayed the same way with a save from Orsolini’s left-foot curler. He then acrobatically pushed a Juan Miranda strike out from under the crossbar and, on the resulting corner, just about stopped the Dallinga header completely crossing the line.

Bologna almost made it four in the final minute, as Niccolò Cambiaghi smashed his finish against the base of the near post from a tricky angle.

The second leg is at the Stadio Dall’Ara on April 24.